Helpdesk Performance Metrics

As more and more business are making use of helpdesks to interact with customers, both in terms of orders and customer complaints or technical questions, it is apparent that such call centers should have standardized measurements to use in determining level of performance for both the individual customer representative and the entire facility. Some of the common performance measurements which are used to track helpdesk performance are listed below.

Wait time in the queue - This is usually stated in minutes on the average, that the caller is likely to experience in the wait line. Some helpdesk software will inform the caller with statements such as 'the estimated wait time is XX minutes' The caller can then determine whether or not he wants to wait for a helpdesk professional to come on the line.

Average Talk Time - This is the amount of time that the helpdesk professional and the caller spend on the line in conversation. Call center employees are often urged to cut the average talk time to some arbitrary figure. Employees may be disciplined at some level if they are not completing their calls within a specified length of time.

Average Handling Time - The average handling or dealing dime is the talk time plus any wrap-up or hold time.

Service Level - Service level or service level percentage is the percentage of calls answered within a specific time frame. Software often is programmed to see that one particular person doesn't end up taking the majority of the calls while other helpdesk personnel are clocking lower numbers.

Calls per hour - The number of calls or inquiries per hour is agent specific. Again, these are often used as quotas which agent personnel are held to.

After Call Work - Also known as Not Ready Time/NR or sometimes Wrap-Up time, this is the amount of time utilized during which the call center agent processes a customer requests but are not speaking to the customer.

First Call Resolution - This is a measurement of customer satisfaction. It's determined by measuring the number of calls where the customer doesn't call back with the same problem after a certain period.

Total Calls Abandoned - This is sometimes displayed as the percentage of calls abandoned. It usually occurs when a call center is experiencing a high call volume so that there are unduly long hold times and the customer gives up on the call.

Idle time - This is the amount or percentage of time spent by an agent when they are not ready to take the next call. These percentages are usually monitored closely by call center administration.

Each call center will have staff assigned to be part of the quality assurance team. They will look at factors such as First Call Resolution to determine if the customers are being served properly, but they QA team may also listen in on random phone calls, during which the customer representative is being rated on how well the established guidelines are being met.

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